Black Widow should’ve been the triumphant last bow of Scarlett Johansson as she said goodbye to her iconic founding Avengers member Natasha Romanoff, after 11 years as part of the MCU. Sadly, however, the long-awaited release of her long-overdue solo Marvel movie was overshadowed by the heated and surprising public spat between the actress and the studio, concerning Disney’s decision to drop the would-be blockbuster on streaming — thereby cutting Johansson out of her pre-agreed cut of the box office profits.
Infamously, despite the breach in contract being obvious and the tide of public opinion mostly in her favor, Disney hit back with a shockingly brutal response once Johansson filed a suit against the company, accusing one of its most lucrative leading ladies of showing a “callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Later in 2021, both parties managed to settle the suit between them, with Johansson going down as one of the few lone individuals (let alone women) to successfully sue a major movie studio. Nevertheless, Disney’s harsh words must have stung.
As the Avengers: Endgame alum admitted in an eye-opening interview with Variety, she was certainly saddened by the statement, although thankfully she had something else to grab her focus:
“I was sad and disappointed. But mostly sad. It was such a surreal moment because we were all isolated and just sort of emerging a little bit. I was also really heavily pregnant, too, which in a weird way was amazing timing. Suddenly, your entire attention is drawn to this miracle of life. So, I had the most wonderful distraction in the world and soon after had a beautiful baby.”
In the same interview, Johansson revealed that she holds no ill will towards Disney as an entity and remains a Disney World devotee and is already pre-booking her tickets for The Little Mermaid. A role in the studio’s Tower of Terror remake is likewise still on the cards. As for a potential MCU return, though, Black Widow appears to be the last time we’ll see her as Natasha on screen as Johansson believes there’s “a lot of dignity” in how her storyline was wrapped up… Even if things off-screen were less dignified.